Would you lend your home to the Poor?

Kristine Åsbø of Nærbø south of Stavanger, Norway has become an instant celebrity for a very charitable reason: she is lending out her home to a poor family for a month. But what’s more phenomenal is that other well-to-do Norwegians are following suit.

It all started when Åsbø announced her unique plan on Facebook: to lend her family’s wooden home and BMW estate car to a disadvantaged family from 25 July to 25 August while her family leaves for a holiday.

Aside from the house and car, the family who takes over Åsbø’s property for a month will also get food vouchers, surfing courses, tickets to a play area and free entrance to the zoo and a museum. The idea has received nearly 25,000 likes, and Åsbø has appeared in breakfast TV show God Morgen Norge to share her plan.

She said the most difficult part of her scheme was choosing the right family: ‘There have been dozens of powerful stories, and I have a big job ahead of me to read all the stories and choose one.’ Out of hundreds who contacted her, the winning family was able to satisfy two of Åsbø’s conditions: the family is religious and has faced some hardship.

Since announcing the success of the scheme, other Norwegian families are willing to give the idea a try. Among them Tine Bjerke from Østfold, south of Oslo who has offered her holiday home in Sweden while Conservative Party politician Ellen Karin Moen announced she’s offering her home in Sandnes for July.